Quotes on Mindfulness

[Daniel E.]

The Certainty of Uncertainty | Cancer Today

After a stage IV cancer diagnosis, Kate Bowler publishes a second memoir that explores the precarious nature of her own mortality.

www.cancertodaymag.org

“Be present” is wonderful advice unless, of course, you feel the insane, wild, frenetic pressure of trying to make every minute into a moment. Then it’s a terrible idea. So I think it’s nice to kind of pick up each of these formulas and to look at them and to try to adjust the dials and create wisdom.

 

[Daniel E.]

The Art of Now: Six Steps to Living in the Moment

The Art of Now: Six Steps to Living in the Moment By Jay Dixit, Psychology Today November 01, 2008 We live in the age of distraction. Yet one of life's sharpest paradoxes is that your brightest future hinges on your ability to pay attention to the present. A friend was walking in the desert...

forum.psychlinks.ca

Living in the moment involves a profound paradox: You can't pursue it for its benefits. That's because the expectation of reward launches a future-oriented mindset, which subverts the entire process. Instead, you just have to trust that the rewards will come. There are many paths to mindfulness—and at the core of each is a paradox. Ironically, letting go of what you want is the only way to get it.

 

[Daniel E.]

Invoking an infinity of unseen universes to explain the unusual features of the one we do see is just as ad hoc as invoking an unseen Creator. The multiverse theory may be dressed up in scientific language, but in essence, it requires the same leap of faith.

— Paul Davies, The New York Times, "A Brief History of the Multiverse"

As skeptical as I am, I think the contemplation of the multiverse is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the nature of science and on the ultimate nature of existence: why we are here.... In looking at this concept, we need an open mind, though not too open. It is a delicate path to tread. Parallel universes may or may not exist; the case is unproved. We are going to have to live with that uncertainty. Nothing is wrong with scientifically based philosophical speculation, which is what multiverse proposals are. But we should name it for what it is.

— George Ellis, "Does the Multiverse Really Exist?", Scientific American

 

[Daniel E.]

"Today’s society doesn't really put up very well with neutral attitudes."

~ Roland Barthes

 

[Daniel E.]

 

[Daniel E.]

An excess of empathy can be bad for your mental health

Here are three steps for overcoming the distress caused by a surfeit of empathy.

theconversation.com

"Loving-kindness meditation...increases activation in areas of the brain associated with positive emotions like love, hope, connection and reward."

 

[Daniel E.]

How to Stop ‘Shoulding’ Yourself

Experts give some pointers on how to cultivate more grace and self-compassion so you can truly thrive in life.

www.shondaland.com

“A self-compassion break is like hitting the reset button on a computer."

~ Kristin Neff, PhD

 

[Daniel E.]

What To Do When You’re Feeling Lost

It may seem daunting, but a period of disorder from time to time can be a beneficial break from stress.

getpocket.com

"Disorientation and disorder aren’t good or bad. They just are. The minute we judge them as good, as being desirable and key phases to growth, we’re liable to sit and stew in them for too long. The minute we judge them as bad and start suppressing and repressing them, we’re liable to miss out on what these phases have to teach us, and, ironically, also overextend their stay."

~ Brad Stulberg

 

[Daniel E.]

“While people brood, time skips ahead without looking back.”

“Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.”

― Alan Lightman, Einstein's Dreams

 

[Daniel E.]

“Silence is like scouring sand. When you are quiet, the silence blows against your mind and etches away everything that is soft and unimportant.”

“Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything . . . It is the presence of time, undisturbed. It can be felt within the chest. Silence nurtures our nature, our human nature, and lets us know who we are."

~ Gordon Hempton

 

[Daniel E.]

Spirituality, Religion, Culture, and Peace: Exploring the Foundation for Inner-Outer Peace in the Twenty-First Century - Groff and Smoker

The Role of Fact-Finding in Preventive Diplomacy - Hanne-Margaret Birckenbach; The International Journal for Peace Studies

www3.gmu.edu

Western cultures have been called "doing cultures" while Eastern cultures have been called "being cultures." Peace may require both of these perspectives in the twenty first century.

 

[Daniel E.]

A Buddhist view of fear and phobia

A Buddhist view of fear and phobia By Eric Wilinski Wed, Aug 29 2007 Fear has its place, of course. Without it, we'd be much less likely to avoid dangerous situations. Without fear, we might be more inclined to step suddenly in front of oncoming traffic; to dive from great heights into murky...

forum.psychlinks.ca

According to the Buddha, all suffering (including fears rational and irrational) is the result of attachment -- attachment to our "self," to the people in our lives, to our possessions, to our way of life, to the things we know. Because all these things are transient, to the Buddhist, being attached to them makes no sense. Through Buddhism, the claim goes, we can learn to give up our attachments. The freedom that results is nirvana. We still get sick, we still get hungry, we still get tired, and we still die -- but these things no longer cause us suffering.

 

[Daniel E.]

 

[Daniel E.]

 

[Daniel E.]

"Leaving space is as important as filling it."

~ Alan Cohen

 

[Daniel E.]

“When I was young, I always regarded the present as a prelude to something better that was going to occur. And then, the years passed, I suddenly found myself doing the opposite--I was bathing myself in nostalgia. What I've not done enough of is to treasure each moment, and that's the problem with your solution of detachment. I think it faces life through the wrong end of the telescope.”

― Irvin D. Yalom, The Schopenhauer Cure

 

[Daniel E.]

“Nature is part our humanity, and without some awareness and experience of that divine mystery man ceases to be man. When the Pleiades and the wind in the grass are no longer a part of the human spirit, a part of very flesh and bone, man becomes, as it were, a kind of cosmic outlaw, having neither the completeness and integrity of the animal nor the birthright of a true humanity.”

― Henry Beston, The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod

 

[Daniel E.]

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”

― Victor Frankl

 

[Daniel E.]

“No matter where you look for something that is not an experience, the moment you find it you will realize that you have only found another experience. Experience is the stuff that reality is made of.”

― Jeff Carreira, Radical Inclusivity: Expanding Our Minds Beyond Dualistic Thinking

 

[Daniel E.]

“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.”

― Thich Nhat Hanh